Wednesday, April 12, 2006

I realize my presence is an abstracted one. It matters not to you where I post from so long as posting happens. But I'm back in Manhattan after a clear my head trip to Connecticut. Just sharing is all...

I already posted about Manderlay. Nick and I also watched Louis Malle's lemon-scented shapeshifter Atlantic City(1980), the Natalie Wood headliner Inside Daisy Clover(1965) which is a dark Hollywood fable. The real mystery of it is how Ruth Gordon managed a supporting actress nomination for it. She's barely in it and the other featured woman (someone I'd never heard of called Katharine Bard) acts circles around her in this messy but intriguing picture. Finally we screened the glitzy Auntie Mame(1958) which I hadn't seen in well over a decade and which Nick had somehow never laid eyes upon.

You knew this was coming, but I'm the grouch. I like the first hour a lot. Russell's a hoot, and her line reading of "MISTER Babcock, Knowledge is Power!" is worth the whole movie, especially in context. Great stuff in that New Haven theater. Great colors and costumes. If the movie had ended there, all would have been bright in my world. Can I leave it at that? xoxo.